Tuesday, August 13, 2013

The Rainbow Gallery - a New Resource for LGBTQ Fandom

This is a guest post from RVC Bard and her new project, the Rainbow GalleryThe Rainbow Gallery is a video campaign
that aims to create a more inclusive space for LGBTQ fans in mainstream TV and
film.

THE NEED

For many of us, fandom has been a sanctuary
for LGBTQ people who don’t necessarily have such spaces in everyday life. Fandom
has given many of us an opportunity to explore our identities and create
community we otherwise do not have. In a world where we still fight for
acceptance, justice, and equality, fandom has even saved lives.

Unfortunately, the people involved with making
the TV shows and movies we love don’t always grasp that. So, they sometimes say
and do things that wind up alienating us from something that once gave us joy
and inspiration.

This is unacceptable. This has to change.

What follows is just one piece of trying to
make that change.

THE IDEA

The Rainbow Gallery is a video campaign
that aims to create a more inclusive space for LGBTQ fans in mainstream TV and
film.

3.Put industry
professionals—studio execs, producers, directors, writers, actors, critics,
etc.—on the right track when talking to and about LGBTQ fans and the things
that matter to us

4.Get straight allies in film and
television on the same page as LGBTQ fans when it comes to how they can support
and advocate for us

5.Pave the way for better
representation of LGBTQ people in mainstream film and television

THE METHOD

Much like the It Gets Better campaign,
video contributions from LGBTQ fans form the core of The Rainbow Gallery.

The format of the videos can vary from a
simple chat in front of a camera to voice-over narration to text and music, whatever
makes the person most comfortable because it’s not always safe to be out as
LGBTQ.

Videos can discuss a variety of topics,
including:

·media representation

·fetishization

·queer-baiting

·fandom

·straight allies

·best practices

·personal stories

·and more

HOW YOU CAN HELP

There are a lot of things you can do to
help (video editing, making a website, etc.), but the easiest are:

5.Use the #rainbowgallery hashtag
when tweeting about The Rainbow Gallery

6.Share links on Twitter and
Facebook

7.Tweet about The Rainbow Gallery
to people affiliated with your favorite TV shows and films

8.Come up with prompt questions
for people making videos

9.Something clever and amazing
that would make everything so much better

WHY I'M DOING THIS

I’m not doing this because fandom is an
untapped market I want to maximize for its earning potential. I’m doing this
because, despite its flaws, I’ve seen in fandom visions of the world I want to
live in. A world where who I am is not a resource to be exploited or a problem
to be solved.

Every fandom I’ve participated in has had
so much love, passion, talent, creativity, intelligence, kindness, generosity,
and wisdom that it strikes me as shameful that the people who offer all these
wonderful gifts are made to feel invisible, insignificant, and expendable by
those who give life to the stories and characters they love.

I believe that no one deserves to feel
invisible. I believe that no one deserves to feel insignificant. I believe that
no one deserves to feel expendable.

I refuse to accept this is “just the way it
is.” I refuse to accept this as inevitable. I refuse to accept this, period.

I want to do everything I can to change
this so that me and my friends can play in the same sandbox as everybody else
and not have to deal with any bullshit.